Panelists & Special Guests

Chief Judge Priscilla Richman joined the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in 2005 after serving on the Supreme Court of Texas for more than ten years.

Judge Rodney Gilstrap was nominated by President Barack Obama to serve as United States District Judge for the Eastern District of Texas and was confirmed in 2011. He assumed the position of Chief Judge in 2018.

Judge Carl E. Stewart received his B.A. degree (Magna Cum Laude) from Dillard University and his J.D. from Loyola University School of Law in New Orleans.

Amos Mazzant currently serves as a United States District Judge for the Eastern District of Texas, Sherman Division.

Leonard P. Stark was appointed by President Joseph R. Biden in March 2022. He came to the Federal Circuit from the United States District Court for the District of Delaware, where he was appointed as a Magistrate in 2007 and then as a District Judge in 2010.

Judge Kara Farnandez Stoll was appointed by President Barack H. Obama in July 2015.

Richard G. Andrews is a District Judge of the the united States District Court for the District of Delaware. He has served since 2011. He has presided over more than sixty patent trials. Before he was a judge, he tried more than fifty cases before juries. He was elected a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers.

Marcia A. Crone received a B.A., summa cum laude, from the University of Texas at Austin in 1973 and a J.D., summa cum laude, from the University of Houston Law Center in 1978.

On January 3, 2006, Judge Love was sworn in as United States Magistrate Judge for the Eastern District of Texas. He was reappointed for a second term which he began serving on January 3, 2014.

Judge Roy S. Payne is a United States Magistrate Judge for the Eastern District of Texas in Marshall, Texas, where he has served since 2011.

Michael Truncale was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on May 14, 2019, and appointed by President Donald J. Trump on May 16, 2019. As a nominee, he received the unanimous well-qualified rating by the American Bar Association.

Christine A. Nowak currently serves as a United States Magistrate Judge for the Eastern District of Texas, Sherman Division. Judge Nowak was appointed to this position in 2015.

Robert W. (Trey) Schroeder III is United States District Judge for the Eastern District of Texas, Texarkana Division.

Judge Schell was appointed as a U. S. district judge for the Eastern District of Texas on June 6, 1988 and took the oath of office on August 15, 1988.

Kimberly C. Priest Johnson currently serves as a United States Magistrate Judge for the Eastern District of Texas, Sherman Division in Plano, Texas.

Richard Seeborg was nominated on August 6, 2009 by President Obama to serve as a United States District Judge for the Northern District of California.

Judge Thad Heartfield was born and raised in Port Arthur, Texas. After graduating from St. Mary’s School of Law in 1965, he began his legal career as an Assistant District Attorney with the Jefferson County District Attorney’s Office.

Jeremy Kernodle is a United States District Judge for the Eastern District of Texas in Tyler. Before taking the bench, Judge Kernodle was a partner at Haynes and Boone, LLP in Dallas, where he practiced complex commercial litigation and appeals.

Judge Sean Jordan is a federal district judge for the Eastern District of Texas, Sherman Division. Judge Jordan was nominated by President Trump on January 17, 2019 and confirmed on July 30, 2019.

Sept. ’21 – present: U.S. Magistrate Judge, Eastern District of Texas, Beaumont and Lufkin Divisions.

Judge Hawthorn is a United States Magistrate judge for the Eastern District of Texas in the Beaumont and Lufkin Divisions. He was appointed in 2011.

Ron Clark was sworn in as United States District Judge for the Eastern District of Texas on 11/22/2002. He served as Chief Judge from 1/1/2015 to 2/28/2018 when he took Senior status.

Judge Mitchell was sworn in as a United States Magistrate Judge on August 16, 2013. In her time on the bench and while working with Chief Judge Davis, Judge Mitchell has overseen numerous patent and general civil litigation cases. She also mediates cases pending in the Eastern District of Texas and the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.

The Hon. Brenda T. Rhoades currently serves as the Chief Judge of the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Texas.

James Boone Baxter serves as a United States Magistrate Judge for the Eastern District of Texas, Texarkana Division.

The Honorable Lee Yeakel was appointed by President George W. Bush and confirmed as a United States District Judge for the Western District of Texas, Austin Division, in July 2003.

Joshua P. Searcy was appointed as a United States Bankruptcy Judge for the Eastern District of Texas overseeing the Tyler, Marshall, Lufkin, and Beaumont divisions in March, 2021.

Deborah M. Miron, Esquire, is the first female Executive Director of the Federal Circuit Bar Association® (FCBA).

Colm F. Connolly was confirmed by a unanimous voice vote of the Senate on August 1, 2018 to sit on the United States District Court for the District of Delaware.

The Honorable J. Campbell Barker was confirmed on May 1, 2019, to the seat vacated by the Honorable Leonard E. Davis, with a duty station in Tyler, Texas.

Judge James E. Graves, Jr. was nominated by President Barack Obama on June 10, 2010, to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.

JIMMIE V. REYNA was appointed to the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit by President Barack Obama in 2011. He was confirmed by the Senate 86 to 0. Prior to his appointment, Judge Reyna was an international trade attorney with Williams Mullen and a member of its board of directors.

David Folsom is a partner in Jackson Walker’s Litigation practice group, and he leads the firm’s Texarkana office. As former Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, David brings his experience and insight to cases both in and out of the Eastern District.

James C. Ho is a Circuit Judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. Before his appointment on January 4, 2018, he was co-chair of the national Appellate and Constitutional Law practice group of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP.

John D. McElroy is the Federal Public Defender for the Eastern District of Texas. Mr. McElroy was appointed to his current position by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in January 2021.

A native of Bryan, Texas, Gil Gillam was first introduced to the courtrooms of East Texas when he went to Longview for his law school’s mock trial preparations.

Danielle Williams is a litigation partner in Winston's Charlotte office. She has extensive experience in handling high-risk, multi-patent, multi-product, and multi-defendant cases in a broad range of technologies, in federal courts across the country.

Kathi Vidal serves as the Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) – America’s Innovation Agency.

L. Frank Coan, Jr. currently serves as the Criminal Chief for the Eastern District of Texas.

James P. Whalen is the owner of Whalen Law Office in Frisco, Texas.

James Gillingham is an Assistant United States Attorney at the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Texas.

Nathaniel C. Kummerfeld is the Deputy Criminal Chief for Complex Fraud & Public Corruption and an Assistant United States Attorney for the United States Attorney’s Office – Eastern District of Texas.

James “Tripp” Fussell is a partner in Mayer Brown’s Washington DC office. He is a member of our Intellectual Property practice where he focuses on litigating complex patent cases in federal courts throughout the country involving a wide variety of technologies.

Jeff Bragalone is a founder of Bragalone Olejko Saad in Dallas, Texas. ​Bragalone Olejko Saad PC has a nationwide complex commercial litigation practice, with an emphasis on patent and intellectual property litigation matters, technology related cases, and cases brought under the False Claims Act.

Mr. Findlay has been practicing law and helping people for more than 25 years. He began his practice as a trial lawyer, focusing much of his energy on personal injury cases, and was Board Certified in Personal Injury Trial Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization.

Tim Durst is a Chambers-ranked, first-chair trial lawyer with years of courtroom experience handling complex and high-stakes disputes. He has taken to trial a wide range of cases including patent, trade secrets, contract, fraud, and fiduciary duty disputes.

E. Leon Carter is a principal of Carter Arnett. Leon has over 25 years of trial and litigation experience working with an impressive client list.

Natalie Bennett is a trial and appellate lawyer focusing on high-stakes patent infringement, breach of contract, and trade secret disputes. She has tried IP disputes in district courts before a jury, at the International Trade Commission, and before Arbitration panels.

Michael C. Smith is the managing partner of Scheef & Stone LLP’s Marshall office, where he assists clients with complex commercial and patent litigation in state and federal courts.

Born in the Land of Oz (Kansas), and raised on the banks of the Mighty Mississippi like Huckleberry Finn, and in the shadows of the Gateway Arch (St. Louis, Missouri), Alan headed west to Texas more than 30 years ago.

Sam Baxter is a principal in McKool Smith's Marshall and Dallas offices. He is a former Texas state district judge and district attorney for Harrison County, Texas.

Andrea Fair joined Ward, Smith & Hill in 2016 after practicing complex commercial litigation in Houston for five years, where her practice focused on patent infringement, construction disputes, and insurance coverage and defense work.

In 2017, Ryan moved to the US Attorney’s Office as a prosecutor in Nashville, TN. Ryan returned to Washington DC to serve as Chief Counsel for Senator John Cornyn in 2020.

Brett joined the Dallas office in 1991. He has broad litigation experience having tried commercial, intellectual property, and tort cases.

Richard A. Cederoth is a partner in Chicago and focuses his practice on patent litigation, primarily involving software, computers and semiconductors.

Professionally, Jim Wren is a trial lawyer first and foremost. Before becoming a law professor, he was designated each year as a Texas Super Lawyer in business litigation, former national president of the National Board of Trial Advocacy, a member of the American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA), and board certified nationally and in Texas in multiple trial specializations.

For more than three decades, Ruffin Cordell has served the world’s most prominent brands as lead trial counsel in high-stakes, high-risk patent and trade secret litigation worldwide.

Joe Mueller is a first-chair trial lawyer who has worked on dozens of trials in courts across the country. Many of his cases involve intellectual property disputes, and he has led trial teams in high-stakes trials for some of the world’s top technology companies.

Donean Surratt has an active trial practice in civil litigation, focusing primarily in the products liability, insurance defense and professional liability areas.

Board certified in civil trial law, Wesley Hill balances a successful practice in intellectual property and business litigation. With more than 30 trials to his credit, including over 20 patent cases, Mr. Hill brings broad courtroom experience to every case he handles.

Supervisory Special Agent Timothy Brown began his career with the FBI in 2008. After graduating from the FBI Academy, SSA Brown was assigned to the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF) in the Boston Division.

James W. Walker is the Dallas office managing partner for Cole Schotz P.C.  His practice is focused on complex commercial litigation in federal districts across the United States.

Dan Girdwood is a Vice President within Samsung Electronics U.S. IP Center (Washington DC Office), where he manages intellectual property matters spanning the company’s many product platforms.

Sarah J. Kalemeris is Senior Corporate Counsel – Corporate Intellectual Property and IP Litigation at T-Mobile USA, Inc, in Bellevue, Washington.

Liz is the Deputy General Counsel for Toyota Motor North America (TMNA) with responsibility for complex litigation, product liability, government investigations, risk management, intellectual property and regulatory compliance.

David J. Beck, formerly a senior partner at Fulbright & Jaworski in Houston, Texas, founded Beck Redden L.L.P. in January 1992.

Jill Bindler is Gray Reed’s go-to advisor on all aspects of E-Discovery in litigation and investigations involving complex, high-volume document production obligations.

Bryan Sinclair is the Sr. Director and Associate General Counsel of IP Litigation at Cisco Systems where he oversees an incredibly talented team and the management of all of Cisco’s intellectual property litigation.

Brad Caldwell of Dallas’ Caldwell Cassady & Curry is a trial lawyer who focuses on patent infringement and complex commercial litigation for both plaintiffs and defendants.

Angie is a Senior Trial Consultant at Laird Trial Consulting LLC. She regularly leads client engagements, consulting with trial counsel on mock jury research design and implementation, witness preparation, jury selection, trial strategy/observation, and post-trial interviews.

Scott Woloson focuses his practice on Mediation, Intellectual Property Counseling, and Patent Litigation involving complex legal issues.

Janis E. Clements focuses her practice on patent litigation, intellectual property licensing, commercial litigation, antitrust, complex business litigation, and energy and natural resources law.

Jason is managing partner of the firm’s Dallas office. He focuses on all aspects of intellectual property litigation with a concentration on patent litigation.

Josh is a partner with HALTOM & DOAN, located in Texarkana, TX, and he practices primarily throughout Texas and Arkansas.

In 1985, Bill joined the Wilson Firm (now Wilson, Robertson & Cornelius) in Tyler as a partner; and now conducts his full-time mediation practice there.

Tom Melsheimer tries lawsuits in state and federal courts, emphasizing intellectual property, business torts, and False Claims Act (FCA) litigation.

David Keyzer serves as a Special Master and as a Technical Advisor assisting federal district court judges with claim construction and other pre-trial proceedings in patent cases.

Patricio Delgado is Vice President of Pricing & FRAND Compliance for IPR & Licensing at Ericsson.

Johanna Hillard, President of JuryScope, Inc., has extensive trial consulting experience with an expertise in complex litigation.

Yar R. Chaikovsky is a leading intellectual property trial lawyer at the firm based in the Palo Alto office.

Nicholas Kim is a Senior Corporate Counsel at Microsoft Corporation and focuses on IP litigation worldwide. He is based in Redmond, Washington.

Jason Sheasby, a partner at Irell & Manella LLP, focuses on complex litigation, patents, trade secrets, antitrust, regulatory compliance and internal investigations.

Kevin Collins is a partner with Covington & Burling in Washington, DC, and is a member of the firm’s Intellectual Property and Commercial Litigation Groups.

Bonnie is a litigator with a preference for high stakes and hard issues. Her professional experiences in commercial litigation include trial and pretrial practice for energy and telecom clients.

Hongsun Yoon is Director and Senior IP Counsel for LG Electronics U.S.A., Inc. In this position, he is responsible for intellectual property matters in the United States for LG across the company’s many products.

Charles "Chip" Babcock is a Texas-based trial and appellate lawyer who litigates at both the trial and appellate levels across the United States. He has tried over 100 cases to a jury and argued over 50 appeals.

Maryalyce Cox is a shareholder at MehaffyWeber, where she first started practicing after graduating from the University of Houston Law Center. She specializes in premises liability, products liability, transportation, toxic tort, labor and employment, and personal injury defense.

G. Blake Thompson, a partner at Mann | Tindel | Thompson, focuses his practice on complex civil litigation including intellectual property and business litigation along with catastrophic personal injury cases.

Mike Jones tries lawsuits in state and federal courts. In publications, he has been designated as a “go to” lawyer for Fortune 500 companies in intellectual property litigation.

Alfred R. Fabricant (Fred) is an experienced first chair trial lawyer who focuses his practice on patent infringement cases. Fred tried his first case in the Eastern District before Judge Ward in 2006. 

Megan Legband is an associate at Farrow-Gillespie Heath Wilmoth LLP. She focuses her practice on representing for-profit and nonprofit entities in a variety of transactional issues, including corporate governance, entity selection and formation, employment concerns, and other matters.

Adam Allgood is Of Counsel with Cherian LLP in Washington, D.C. With over a decade of top-firm IP litigation experience (patent, copyright, trade secret) in a variety of forums.

Janis Gorton began her career at Berg & Androphy in 2008, and she has worked almost exclusively on Qui Tam litigation since that time.

Geoff Culbertson represents individuals, businesses and associations in state and federal courts across Texas and Arkansas.

Greg Dykeman has been a trial lawyer in Southeast Texas for the last 35 years. Mr. Dykeman is Board Certified in Civil Trial Law. He has represented individuals and companies in a wide range of litigation in State and Federal Courts throughout Texas.

Mr. Francis began his career as a member of the United States Air Force detailed to the National Security Agency. During his tenure with the NSA, he was deployed to Misawa Japan where he collected and analyzed both Soviet Union and Chinese military intelligence.

Jeff Eichmann is a Plaintiffs’ lawyer, representing inventors in high-tech patent cases. Formerly a senior partner at Dovel & Luner, Jeff founded the EICHMANN law firm in January 2022.

Brit Featherston became the United States Attorney, for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for Eastern District of Texas, in November 2021 after returning from Baghdad, Iraq as the Justice Attaché.

Kat Li is an IP litigation partner in the Austin office of Kirkland & Ellis LLP. Her trial practice focuses on patent and technology litigation, and she has represented Fortune 500 companies in United States District Court, the International Trade Commission, the Patent Trial and Appeal Board, and the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.

Margaret Alverson (Meg) has served as the Circuit CJA Case Budgeting Attorney for the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals since April 2016.

Madison Cedillo has served as a member of the District Clerk’s Office in the Eastern District of Texas since 2019.